"Disappointment abound, but it was a strong showing": Chicago fans remain optimistic despite Blackhawks' opening night loss to Panthers

Chicago Blackhawks fans remain optimistic despite the team's opening night 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. The Blackhawks just came up short against the reigning Stanley Cup winners.

Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen got goals for Chicago. A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe, and Jesper Boqvist scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves. Meanwhile, Spencer Knight made 34 saves in the loss.

Despite the defeat, many Blackhawks fans took to social media with positive takeaways from the performance. One fan wrote,

"Disappointment abound, but it was a strong showing. Pick it up and run for the cup!"

Another fan wrote,

Here are some more optimistic fan reactions:

"A lot of stuff I liked (Nazar being great, Bedard looking faster, Rinzel playing poised), but need to be better against more aggressive forechecking teams. Hopeful moving forward" one fan wrote. "Bedard, Nazar, Knight, Rinzel, Greene, Turbo looked fantastic. They are the defending champs for a reason. Hawks looked good," another fan wrote. "So many bums in the comments. That team showed a level of compete we didn’t see much last year. Definitely has some promise. Especially playing that high level of a team in the Panthers," a user commented. "Honestly played decent. Last couple minutes was mismanaged tho not getting Knight out sooner," another user wrote.

Up next, Chicago takes on the Boston Bruins on Thursday at TD Garden. Meanwhile, Florida hosts the Philadelphia Flyers the same night at Amerant Bank Arena.

Game recap: Blackhawks 3-2 loss against Panthers

Frank Nazar got Chicago on the board first, midway through the opening period, taking a pass through the neutral zone from Tyler Bertuzzi and ripping a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove on a clean breakaway.

Just over a minute later, A.J. Greer buried a rebound after Jonah Gadjovich jammed a loose puck toward the net, evening the score at 1-1.

Carter Verhaeghe then put Florida ahead 2-1 with a power-play strike, firing the puck over Spencer Knight’s shoulder after the Chicago goalie had drifted out of position while trying to play it behind the net.

The Blackhawks tied in the second period when Nazar set up Teuvo Teravainen on a 2-on-1 rush, and scored from the left circle to tie things up at 2-2.

Then, Jesper Boqvist scored the game-winner in the third to clinch a 3-2 victory for the Panthers.

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Edited by Brad Taningco